Stem cell transplant: Cancer patient meets life-saving donor

A retired journalist who was told he had just days to live has met the stem cell donor who saved his life.

Ivor Godfrey-Davis, from Andover in Hampshire, met Mark Jones, a 54-year-old railway worker from Witham, Essex, at the DKMS charity offices in London.

Mr Godfrey-Davis, 73, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in January 2015.

"We are genetic twins," he told Mr Jones, who received the transplant seven months later.

"Nobody is closer to this guy than me and nobody is closer to me than this guy."

Mr Godfrey-Davis said he was given as little as seven days to live, if his condition was untreated, when he was first diagnosed.

He received chemotherapy but was told he had a 75% chance of relapsing.

Despite having a rare genetic make-up, and there only being two donor matches identified in the world, he received the transplant in August 2015.

Mr Jones sent Mr Godfrey-Davis a letter via the hospital last year.

"You know, I've actually spoken to the guy whose life I saved, and it's still very much weird," said Mr Jones.

DKMS (the German bone marrow donor centre) is an international charity treating and supporting people with blood cancers and blood disorders.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]